Running Thoughts

I CAN fit into my wedding dress! Virtual high fives all around!  :) I should have taken a picture!  I'll try to do that when I get back home!

It's great to be home (although we had a great time)!!  I've been letting my body re-adjust to the altitude.  Headache/tired.  It only takes 2 weeks to get de-acclimated to the mountains and we were gone 2 and a half.  Sometimes I feel it and sometimes not.  This time, I've felt it.  So, listening to and respecting my body, I decided to rest these past 2 days even though I wanted to run.   Hubby and I celebrate our 19th anniversary on the first.  We are leaving tomorrow for a short anniversary get-away and we will be gone until sometime Tuesday.  We will be staying in a bed and breakfast that we stayed in on our honey-moon.  Isn't he romantic?  OOOOOOH!  I wonder if I can squeeze into my wedding dress????? Beginning the week after july 4th, Sara, hubby, and I begin a 5K training/muscle building 4 week Blitz.  More details about that later.   "See" you in a few days!

I'm not home yet!  We had to stay longer than planned, so I'm back in Austin.  So, I got to run one more time here in the humid heat!   My thoughts as I ran: "I really should have gotten out here earlier.  It's freakishly hot and sticky out here.  Oh!  There's some shade (speeding up)...ah, shade is good!  (slowing down through the shade in an attempt to make it last)  When I get home, I'm going to concentrate on enjoying the cool air more.  Yay!  Here's my favorite little downhill part of the trail!  I wonder why my knees feel so stiff today???  hey, they put new pea gravel here...can't go over it, can't go around it, must go through it(trudge, trudge).  Already to the round about!  Ok, that means that I'm almost to the big hill.  Why do I keep forgetting to dump the little rocks out of my shoe?  Ok, here's the hill...yiiiikes!  too fast (slowing down, twisting my ankle just a little).  All right, back on track.  I wonder if I look as ridic...

Ran again, sweat dripping...nothing amazing to anyone but me.  It was fun!  I like the long hills here and I only walked once for a few steps at the top of a long hill.  2 miles with hills and heat.

Yayayayayay! I got to jump rope yesterday, do 3 sets of push ups, and run today!!  I was dripping with sweat and thinking of Ruthie who loves to run in the humid heat.  Ugh!  I ran about 2 miles up and down long hills in the scorching heat and now I'm pretty sure I can conquer anything!  I didn't break any records or create a new personal best, but I felt like I did!  And I'm one run closer to meeting my goal of runs under a 11:34 mile.  I ran at about 11:15?? I can't remember, but nothing earth shattering and still, I feel good about it.   I really love the book, Marathoning for Mortals, recommended by Ruth.  I don't know that I will train for a looooong run like a marathon or half, but I am inspired to begin the training and see where it takes me as I shoot for longer distances and personal bests.  I'd like to run a solid 5k and 10K and who knows beyond that???  You know that Ruth will decide that if she can run a half, she can run a full marathon, so maybe we...

But don't worry, I'm not discouraged.  I still have my plans that can come to fruition at any point along my vacation journey, and I know that I can look forward to my "program" when I get back home!  So, I will just...continue...whatever that means!  And I'm reading some great running books while I'm gone.  R, you will be interested to know that one of them is Marathoning for Mortals....  :)

I'm at my in-laws!  So far, I've been a tired, non-exercising person.  Yesterday was a travel hangover day (complete with headache and everything).  My youngest decided not to sleep much at all the first night, so I was exhausted.  Anyway, I hope to do a 25 minute workout today that I downloaded for trips.  And tomorrow I go to my parents' house.  I brought my jump rope for while I'm at their house.   So, that's what's up with me!  

Yesterday started out to be one of those days when I long for a treadmill.  It was rainy, cold, and gray.  For those who have wondered what happened with my cardio plans, you'll be happy to know that the sun peeked out for a bit and Sara and I ran hill repeats up the driveway and then alternated jump rope intervals.  Yay!! Days when the weather makes it hard to do cardio remind me of why I'd like to have a treadmill.  I have an elliptical, but it isn't the same, not that a treadmill is exactly the same as running outside, but it's close.  And I have found some ways to make treadmill running more interesting.   The Complete Book of Running for Women has a section called Finding Fun in Treadmill Running, and I thought that since it's so hot where some of you are and some of you have small children...well, a treadmill is the best option, but not always as inspiring...and you might like some of these ideas!!  "TV Tempo" Warm up for an easy 10 minutes before yo...

lower body ALMOST didn't happen yesterday!  Sara and I have been busy trying to get a loooong list of things done before my family leaves for 2 weeks and before her family comes here for a vacation.  Finished the kids' testing...whew!  And keep trying to fit in Kaegan's one-on-one time which I would like to be every waking hour, but at least he got one hour with Sara yesterday.  That's better than none!   We remembered last night before dark....so we did long sets of uphill walking lunges and then burned out on calf raises.  Not as thorough of a leg workout as I had intended, but intense.  Today should be cardio, but it is raining outside....I like to run in the snow, but the rain...not so much.  I will post a "why I want a treadmill" post later today......so look for that! I'm contemplating what my workout will be.  Stairs or elliptical?  Maybe it will clear up later???

**UPDATE** Sara is back!  And she brought me a cute, cute greeeeeeen (my fav) and white underarmour running shirt!  So I put it on and went for a run along the river.  I kept my pace under my goal pace, so the shirt is a success!!!!  :)  I ran 1k and then ran 8 sprints back home.  I had intended for the 1k to be faster than it was.  I was sort of wimpy and walked part of it.  But my sprints weren't wimpy.  They were pretty fast!  And I did triple drop sets for biceps.  Lower body and abs tomorrow.  So I won't be running and I'm weirdly sad about that. ********************* This week is testing week for our homeschool family.  Our state requires nat'l standardized achievement tests every odd grade year.  I have a 3rd grader and a 7th grader.  School ended last friday so we are testing this week at home and watching all the Harry Potter movies in order.  :)  We leave on Saturday to go to visit Grandparents and friends for a couple of weeks.  Things won't get completel...